For months, a good portion of the WWE Universe has been clamoring for Roman Reigns to go away or to at least turn heel, because his babyface top dog character was just not working for them.
After a long time of disagreeing, today’s suspension has made me finally say it: Roman Reigns needs to turn heel.
This is coming from one of the few people who cheered Roman Reigns on at the 2015 Royal Rumble and who would have been happy to see him defeat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31 to become the WWE World Heavyweight champion.
I was on board with him as a babyface champion and I still think he gets a lock more flack than he deserves. Could he be better in the ring? Sure. Could his promos be tailored to suit his strengths instead of showing off his weaknesses just for the sake of those lines being what WWE wants their champion to say? Of course. But is the guy as bad as everyone makes him out to be? Absolutely not.
Several days ago, we were in a completely different situation than we’re in right now, though. Roman Reigns was definitively “The Guy” and while Seth Rollins made his claim to the mantle, the idea of a massive shift was still just talk.
Now, with Dean Ambrose as the champion, Reigns out for 30 days serving his suspension and the brand split coming just before that finishes, there’s room for WWE to do something drastic with Roman’s character.
Within the span of minutes after the announcement, Reigns was under fire from his critics, talking about how he never should have been the champion to begin with, how this was great because it spits in the face of Vince McMahon and those who supported him, etc etc etc. His doubters were quick to denounce his future and wish a huge devaluing of his role in the company, moving onto future topics as if Reigns was already yesterday’s story.
News flash: plenty of suspensions have gone relatively unpunished in the past.
Randy Orton was suspended twice, with speculation that a third might have been strategically pushed aside. He’s still a main event talent (even while injured) and a future Hall of Famer for sure, who could win a second world title at any point if another belt is created for SmackDown. Rey Mysterio served two suspensions and was still highly regarded, also despite numerous injuries. William Regal has had plenty of problems and is now one of the key figures in securing the future of the business as an integral part of the developmental structure. Booker T has two suspensions and is a Hall of Famer and on every pre-show panel. Dolph Ziggler is fine. Edge is fine. Darren Young is supposedly being made great again (sure).
Likewise, Roman Reigns isn’t suddenly going to turn into a jobber, which means WWE will need to take one of the following courses of action upon his return:
- Act as though nothing ever happened, ignoring the even louder response from the fans who won’t let this news die down so easily
- Punish him and ruin his credibility, then either give up or have to start all over with rebuilding him
- Adapt, roll with the punches, and do something different
For my money, I’m hoping for the third scenario, and I think the best way to capitalize on a negative is to turn into the skid and make it a positive.
The thing that everybody hates about John Cena’s character is that it’s stale and it appeals to a goody two shoes mentality. He’s squeaky clean, says that he respects everyone, and you can just tell that he’s positioned as the boy scout. Roman Reigns suffered from that to an extent, even though there were small attempts to deviate from it.
Screw it. You can’t do that anymore. Reigns just got popped for failing one of the biggest directives from the company—something that paints him as a cheater, a liar, and ungrateful for his position. Unless there’s more to the suspension than we know, we can only assume that he did something he knew full well was wrong and everybody should be pissed at him for the same reasons Adam Rose and Konnor were suspended earlier this year.
If the fans didn’t like the babyface act before, they’re not going to like it now. Those who did like it may sour on it because they’ll know WWE is sweeping his suspension under the rug and that he’s no longer the role model they wanted him to be. There aren’t any benefits to trying to pass him off as someone looking for redemption or fighting to earn the cheers from the crowd again, as it’s not going to happen as a babyface right now.
Instead, WWE should go with the flow and turn him heel. He’ll be pissed that Dean Ambrose is the champion and that he lost at Money in the Bank to Seth Rollins, effectively meaning he went from the top guy to being ranked third in The Shield. He lost his belt and he sees his friend holding it now, but can’t even be that excited for him, and now he gets caught having cheated this whole time with performance enhancement drugs?
Have the guy own up to it. Yeah, he took steroids, and you know what? It got him the championship twice, and we would all do the same damn thing if we were smart enough to think of it and get away with it for as long as he did.
Boom. Instant heel for those that liked him before, possible babyface turn for those who want an edgier character, and a secure feud against Dean Ambrose going forward, which will only help boost The Lunatic Fringe’s popularity because his supporters will still be backing him 100%.
Seth Rollins can even turn babyface in the process if WWE feels the need to balance out the scales, which means that would keep his character fresh and open up some different opportunities for him in the coming months. Let’s face it, we’ve seen Rollins against Lesnar, Cena, Ambrose, Reigns and more. With him as a babyface, we’d get to see Rollins vs AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and more.
Eventually, Reigns will be able to go back to being a babyface and it will be distanced enough from this suspension that nobody will care anymore, giving WWE the top guy they wanted in the beginning. It’s an all-win situation with nothing to lose.
What do you think? Should Reigns turn heel or is WWE better off acting as if this suspension didn’t even happen come July 24th?
Drop a comment below and let me know what’s on your mind!
